Making The Love Of Christ More Understandable.

When we read about what Christ did on the cross, it is hard to understand by most. I have heard several stories, and some really hit the point of what that love is like. I will tell two of those stories here. On will be a imagine story, the other is a true one.

True story: Making a long story short....

There was a man in the military who fought in Vietnam. He was a christian and really felt for the kids over there who were caught up in this war. He was a pilot and flew a F4. And later learned to fly a helicopter, which he learned on his own. The helicopter flying enabled him to fly aid to families and children in places where there was no help. He later made friends with a supply sargent that through some trading, he was able to build a orphanage for the children. Teaming up with a christian pastor that was a native there, than ran it and helped many kids.

The military man came across a boy who had lost his whole family. He told the boy about Christ, and that God in heaven would be his father. The boy accepted Christ without hesitation. Little did the military man know, the boy who soon teach him something about the love of Christ. While the military man was taking care of bussiness in town, he recieved a message telling him that the orphanage had been hit with some sort of military missle. To come quickly, that one of the boys had been injured badly and may not live. So he rushed to the site and found the pastor trying to confort the boy. His arm had been blown off, and the boy had lost alot of blood. Now this kid was not the same kid that accepted Christ. The military guy took the kid to a army hospital, where he was operated on.

The doctor came out and told the military guy that the kid needed blood, and that it had to be from his own people. Something to do with his immune system. The military man rushed back to the orphanage an explained as best he could to everyone, and one kid stepped forward. It was the boy who accepted Christ. They rushed back, and this time the native pastor came along. The boy was brought right into the operating room to give a direct transfusion. It saved the other boys life.

While waiting for any news in the waiting room, the two men noticed the boy crying. So the pastor went and asked the boy several questions about why he was crying. He answered no to them all (questions like: did the needle hurt, were you scared? etc...). So being fustrated, he finally just asked why. The boy replied: How long do I have to live? The pastor explained to him that he would not die. Then went and told the military man what the boy said.

It did not hit home about, what was meant, until the military man was driving back and pondered what the boy meant by what he said. The boy thought that giving blood to save his friend would kill him, but he stepped foward anyway. This made the man reflect on his own life, wondering if he would have that same love and would not hesitate if this would have happened to one of his friends. He soon realized that he would not have. Soon he realized that the boy had the same love that Christ had. Willing to give his life freely for his friend.John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

And this is why Christ went to the cross. He gave his life freely for the ones he loved.

Imagined story:

Imagine that you were fighting in a war. You and someone you just met were side by side. During a break to eat, your friend sees something you don't. A gun just poked through the bush beside you fixing to kill you. Without saying anything, your new friend jumps between you and the bullet that was meant for you and is shot. Your quick reactions kill the would be sniper. Your new friend is badly wounded, and dies while your holding his hand. You feel as something has died in you as well.

Knowing that your new friend just gave his life for yours, how obligated would you now feel to him in making sure his body made it home to his family, as it should be? How obligated would you be to see his family, to try and comfort them even though you've never met them?

Now you know what the love of Christ was like. For He died for those who never knew Him. So they do not have to perish in the lake of fire.

An incident that took place several years ago in California illuminates what Jesus did on the cross in order to solve the problem God had with dealing with the sin of humanity.Ã‚Â A young woman was picked up for speeding.Ã‚Â She was ticketed and taken before the judge.Ã‚Â The judge read off the citation and said "Guilty or not guilty?". The woman replied, "Guilty". The judge brought down the gavel and fined her $100 or ten days.Ã‚Â Then an amazing thing took place. The judge stood up, took off his robe,walked down around in front, took out his billfold, and paid the fine.Ã‚Â What's the explanation of this?Ã‚Â The judge was her father.Ã‚Â He loved his daughter, yet he was a just judge.Ã‚Â His daughter had broken the law and he couldn't simply say to her "Because I love you so much, I forgive you.Ã‚Â You may leave".Ã‚Â If he had done that, he wouldn't have been a righteous judge.Ã‚Â He wouldn't have upheld the law.Ã‚Â But he loved his daughter so much that he was willing to take off his judicial robe and come down in front and represent her as her father and pay the fine.

Josh McDowell, More Than A Carpenter, Tyndale House Publishers, 1977, pgs 114-115

One raw winter night the man heard an irregular thumping sound against the kitchen storm door. He went to a window and watched as tiny, shivering sparrows, attracted to the evident warmth inside, beat in vain against the glass.

Touched, the farmer bundled up and trudged through fresh snow to open the barn door for the struggling birds. He turned on the lights and tossed some hay in the corner. But the sparrows, which had scattered in all directions when he emerged from the house, hid in the darkness, afraid.

The man tried various tactics to get them into the barn. He laid down a trail of Saltine cracker crumbs to direct them. He tried circling behind the birds to drive them to the barn. Nothing worked. He, a huge, alien creature, had terrified them; the birds couldn't comprehend that he actually desired to help. The farmer withdrew to his house and watched the doomed sparrows through a window. As he stared, a thought hit him like lightning from a clear blue sky: If only I could become a bird - one of them - just for a moment. Then I wouldn't frighten them so. I could show them the way to warmth and safety.

At the same moment, another thought dawned on him. He grasped the reason Jesus was born.

There was a story told once of an encounter between Clara Barton, renowned humanitarian and founder of the Red Cross, and a future president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt. During the Spanish American War, Colonel Roosevelt approached Nurse Barton and offered her money for food and other supplies for his banged up and ravished Rough-Riders. Barton refused his request. Confused, Roosevelt went to the resident Surgeon and explained what had happened. The Surgeon told Roosevelt to return and simply ask for the supplies. A smile slowly crept across the ColonelÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s face as he went and asked Nurse Barton for the supplies, which she then immediately provided him. Grace is something that cannot be bought or worked for, as there is no price that can be put on it. Simply ask, and it will be given to you! Remember, God keeps his promises!

A preacher gets ready for his sermon, and decides to tell a true story about a member in the congregation.

A man, his son, and his son's freind go on a boating trip. While they where a couple of miles off shore, a storm shows up. They try to out run it. About a mile off shore, the storm over takes them. The boat is not big enough for the waves, and is soon tossed over throwing everyone out except the father. The boat ends back upright with the father still onboard. Both boys are still in the water. The father is faced with a decision, there is only one life preserver. Who will he throw it to? His own son, or his son's friend.

Knowing that his son has accepted Christ, and he knew where he would go if he died. But he also knew his son's friend had not. And he also knew where he would go without Christ. So before throwing the life preserver, he yelled to his son: I love you! Then he threw his son's friend the life preserver. He pulled the boy in the boat, and looked to throw his son the life preserver. But his son had disappeared. And was never found.

The preacher went on with the sermon, and explained that the man knew he would meet his son again. And also explained that the boy he saved was now saved also, and had become a preacher. Upon the end of church, two unbelievers were baffled at the story and said they did not believe it. The man sitting behind them heard what they had said, and ask them why. They replied that to allow the life of someone who you love dearly to die over someone you barely know does not make sense. Then they ask the man if he believed that story.

He replied that he did. They asked why. He told them that he was the one that was saved by the man who allowed his son to die. And he could now relate better then most on why God gave His son to die also. That salvation took on a whole new meaning because of what that man did. And because the boy's father had done this, there would be a meeting in heaven of three, instead of only two from that accident.

A preacher was preaching one sunday. And was lead to go to the back of the church. There was a huge texan man sitting on the back pew. The preacher felt lead to ask him to come foward, so he did. The man replied: I have enough time. I'm in good health. So I'll accept God later when I have the time to. The preacher pleaded again, the man replied something simular to him. So the preacher went back up front and closed the service.

The very next day, the preacher got a call from his deacon. The deacon told him there was a terrible accident involving one of the members, and the member was not expected to live. So the preacher told him to come by and pick him up, and they would go to the hospital together. As they were driving, the deacon told him what happened. He said that the person that was in the accident, was working at a oil refinery. While checking some trucks in, one of the straps that held the pipes on one truck snapped. And the pipes came off the truck and literally squished him in half. He said the doctors could not understand why he was still alive. Once the preacher heard this, he told the deacon to step on it, that they needed to get there as soon as they could.

Upon stepping off the elevator, they needed not to ask where this man was. His screaming in pain could be heard all over that floor. So they hurried to his room. Upon entering, the preacher saw the man he had approached the day before in his church. As the man laid there ripping the sheets, he saw the preacher and yelled out: Save me preacher, I can see the flames. But before the preacher could open his mouth, the man died.

God gave this man one last chance. He did this out of love. The man rejected that love, and died in his sin. Some might think that God may have allowed this to happen to the man because of rejection. Not so. God's word says: Every man has an appointed time to live, and an appointed time to die. This man's time was up. And God was calling him one last time before he met his appointed time. God did not have to do this, but he did.